Mission Log
by Bitter Sweet Koishii
Summary: A pedophile has been claiming prey within Konoha’s walls. Sakura is assigned to become “bait”. Akatsuki gets involved, but why? How will Sakura, and now Itachi, work together when in truth, enemies will always be enemies…ItaSaku


Mission 1: The more dangerous pedophile!?

A pedophile has been claiming prey within Konoha's walls. Sakura is assigned to become "bait". Akatsuki gets involved, but why? How will Sakura, and now Itachi, work together when in truth, enemies will always be enemies…ItaSaku Rated T for language and violence.

Chapter 1: As long as you pick a side…

The news buzzed around faster than a wild fire supplying its own fuel. The news of the continuing murder of young girls… Everybody had an opinion, but everyone wanted the same goal. "Catch and kill this bastard!" the angered village men shouted. "I half a mind to rally up a group and catch this sicko myself!" an older man fumed. "Why isn't there being anything done about this!?" a woman steamed.

Tsunade could only watch the raged people from her office. 'Just be a little more patient…' she mentally pleaded. She felt horrible she could not take action sooner. The uptight council men worked slower than their brittle legs carried them. She was becoming more impatient along with the angry villagers as more lives were being claimed while the old farts babbled on about financial expenses this mission would cost them. 'How can you put a price on innocent lives?' Pissed, Tsunade clenched her fists tightly, hoping she wouldn't shatter the office apart, barge into those old fool's gathering and beat sense into them! Though it was tempting…

She was brought out of her murderous thoughts when a hesitant knock tapped against the door. "YES?!" she answered, to upset to control her tone. As the door opened slowly, Tsunade turned to find Shizune standing in the door frame. "L-Lady Tsunade?" she whimpered. Tsunade took several breaths to calm herself and make her loyal friend more comfortable. "Yes? I'm sorry for shouting Shizune…" she huffed. Shizune gently laid down a document on her desk and ran out the room quickly leaving a very confused Tsunade. 'What got into her?' she asked herself. Utterly dumfounded, she gazed upon the paper. As her eyes shifted back and forth on the stamped document she felt as if she had been struck by lightning and thrashed against a spiked wall at the same time! "Permission for investigation DENIED?!" she burst! She read further on into detail. "Too COSTLY?!" she screamed.

It was at this time it did not matter where you stood in Konoha, to know when the ground began to shake and a woman's terrifying scream could be heard, that Lady Tsunade was not happy…

Even those at the training grounds shuddered for the unfortunate souls that would have to explain themselves to Tsunade.

* * *

Naruto shivered. "Whoa! Did you guys feel THAT?!" he whined. Sakura and Sai sweat dropped. "Hey, Sakura!" Naruto called "Why do YOU think your teacher's mad this time?" he pried. Sakura felt put on the spot as Naruto's, Kakashi's, and Sai's eyes turned to Sakura. The pink haired ninja sighed. "Well knowing her, she didn't like the response she got from the councilmen…" she laughed. Sakura had no idea how dead-on she had been.

* * *

Back at the Hokage's office, Tsunade had destroyed almost everything in her path as she worked her way to the councilmen's main room.

The councilmen were chatting away like little kids as their "tea time" was disturbed by something worse than any financial predicament, Lady Tsunade. "What is the meaning of this?!" She screamed. Silence was returned as they could see all the ruble she had trailed on her way to their room. "Well?!" She fumed. She stayed put as the leader of the group stood proudly. "Ah Lady Tsunade, would you like a cup of tea?" he greeted. The rest of the councilmen also greeted the angry woman with "Hellos" and "How are you this fine days". Tsunade stood in disbelief.

'Ok, THIS is going to be SO worth it' she finally decided as she locked the door behind her, making the old men in front of her nervous and beg for their lives to be spared…

* * *

"I would just beat up those old geezers if they made MY job that difficult" Sakura proclaimed. Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hey c'mon now Sakura, Tsunade isn't THAT evil" he defended, making Sakura sweat drop. Another point on Sakura's side.

Tsunade skipped out of the room happily with her "Permission Approved" paper. 'I love my job!' she beamed. Surrounding bystanders quickly made way for their Hokage to pass through.

* * *

As the three students finished up their training, Kakashi was finishing up a conversation with Tsunade over the radio. "Understood" Kakashi said respectfully. "I will assign it right away" he assured "But…I have ask, is it ok to send your student to THIS type of mission?" he whispered. After a moment of exchanging soft whispers, Kakashi gave in. "I see. No, no it's alright. I will inform her immediately" he sighed. "Yes…good bye." He sighed as he hung up. 'This is going to be tuff' he whined.

Kakashi watched his only female student. Just as her name suggested, she truly was indeed blossomed into the young lady she was now. He had watched Sakura grow from the weak whiny victim into this beautiful, strong, independent woman. She had grown into her forehead much to everybody's surprise. She had also gone farther than any of his students in training, far enough to ask Lady Tsunade to TRAIN her. 'Must have gone through hell, the poor thing' he thought ruefully. If he had focused on her a bit more, instead of the other two, she could have been stronger and not to have gone to such dramatic lengths. 'But look at her now' he smiled. 'Top female ninja, and it's rumored she has almost surpassed her teacher, truly incredible. To think THAT same whiny girl would have become third most respected medic (under Shizune and Tsunade), and such a powerful ninja…'

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice. "Did you tell her yet?" Tsunade asked behind him. Kakashi turned to face Tsunade and bowed respectfully. "No, I was caught up in my thoughts." He turned back to the cute ninja as she shattered a mountain sized boulder into bits with her signature smile. Kakashi sweat dropped. "She really has grown, hasn't she Mi'lady?" he smiled. "She has…" her teacher told Kakashi. "She's like the daughter I regret not having…but Sakura fills that gap in my life…" she cooed. Kakashi nodded in agreement. "If only her parents were around to witness this…" Kakashi said sadly, earning a "soft" punch from Tsunade which Kakashi swears shattered his shoulder bone. "C'mon Kakashi!" she said with a playful laugh "Isn't it fate you and I were entrusted to become her legal guardians?" she beamed. Kakashi smiled through his navy blue masked, which he now removed! Tsunade tried to hide her blush as Kakashi planted a light kiss on the woman's forehead. "You have been a wonderful mother to her" he cooed. "I will be on my way, it's time to begin her mission" he stated before walking over to his students.

As Naruto, Sai, and Sakura sat on the soft grass, Kakashi went into "serious" mode.

"Alright, well as you have heard there has been an increase in the murder rate due to this nameless man" he explained "Well through much observation, we have caught a pattern in all the murders" he finished, earning a gasp from Naruto. "P-pattern?" Naruto repeated. Sai yawned "You mean how all the girls were high school students?" he said, unimpressed. "Or how they all disappeared after English class, which by the way was the same teacher for all the girls." Sakura informed. Kakashi gawked at how much his students were a step ahead of him. "OR, OR how they were all girls!" Naruto bursted, feeling out of the loop. The rest turned to him, annoyed with the obvious response. Naruto sweat dropped.

"Well yes, but there's one other factor that may come off as odd" Kakashi had just finished looking over the mission scroll. "Call it a fetish but all the females that were abducted had hair some shade of red." All eyes shot over to Sakura "Curious isn't? Why would our criminal obsess himself over red haired women?" Kakashi shut the scroll and handed it over to Sakura. "So without further ado, Sakura and Sakura alone will handle this mission" he finished. Naruto fumed… "HEY NOW! THAT'S NOT RIGHT!" he screamed "to send her in without as much as backup?! What grade of a mission is this anyway?!" Kakashi tried to shield his ears from Naruto's outburst. Sai put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm him down. Kakashi sighed relieved the loud noise was over. "Well…um…you see…" his voice trailed off "Sakura's mission is ranked level A, BUT I'm more than confident that Sakura will fine" he assured.

"Well it's been a nice chat, so I will meet up with you tomorrow at Sakura's ok. See you!" Luckily Kakashi poofed far enough before Naruto could tackle him. "GAAAAYYYYYYY!" he screamed. Naruto's attention was diverted when a little paper swerved towards Sakura. "Hey Sakura what does it say?" he pried. Sakura caught the flimsy paper and gawked. A curious Sai took the paper from her hands. "Aw Ugly has to dress up" Sai snickered. Naruto stood and snatched the paper from Sai's hand. "Dear Sakura,…" he read "report to Shizune after training to go shopping for your first day at Konoha High TOMORROW!?" he yelped, Sakura cringed. "Be sure to go all out, this is a guy we're trying to capture after all" Naruto and Sakura nearly gagged as Sai couldn't help but laugh hysterically. "You start at 7am so get plenty of rest and don't hate me. Lot of love, Tsunade" he finished. Naruto turned to Sakura as she was preoccupying herself by throwing up behind some bushes. "Why me?" was all Naruto could make out.

* * *

The next day, Sakura got up at 6am much to her disappointment. She hadn't slept much because Shizune always had another "favorite salon" she wanted Sakura to visit with her. Originally, Shizune was just supposed to get her school uniform fitted, but as things progressed Sakura had found herself being dragged from store to store. Shizune had played with Sakura like a dress up doll. Dressing her in the finest and most fashionable, Shizune also gave Sakura pointers on applying makeup. Something Sakura could only see Ino doing. It felt nice to be pampered a bit, but this is not what she had planned to happen when all of this was for a mission.

She reluctantly tossed the warm sheets aside. "Today is going to be dreadful" she cursed. She cringed as she opened her closet to find the much too short and feminine uniform. She sighed as she removed her own clothes to slip into this outfit. She chose to cover all the mirrors like a vampire until she was finished. She was afraid she'd be half way into the outfit and shred it apart for being so revealing!

She let her hair down and was surprised to see how much it had grown. Almost reaching to her tush, she was contemplating whether to cut it before school started. 'No, I need more pink hair if I want to catch this sicko's attention' she sighed. It wasn't that she didn't miss her long hair, but more like it reminded her of Sauske. A distraction she did not need right now. She shook off the memories and continued to get ready. After applying light lip-gloss, she curled her long eyelashes and carefully applied the mascara Shizune had tried to hammer into her head. 'There are way too many rules in girly-girl world' she sighed. With a light spray of cinnamon on herself she concluded she was done. 'FINALLY!' she beamed.

She headed to the cloth-covered mirror and braced herself. 'What if I'm not "cute" enough?' she worried. She gazed at the lovely pictures of the now murdered girls. 'How am I supposed to compare myself to them?! They're like models!' Sakura was becoming too nervous. She took a deep breath as she finally got the grip to yank the sheet off the mirror.

Moments passed and it felt like an eternity before she had taken every detail of herself in.

* * *

As the rest of team Kakashi was heading to Sakura's house awkwardly, Naruto couldn't help but bring up a touchy subject. "Hey Kakashi…after Sakura…lost her parents…" his voice trailed off catching Sai and Kakashi's attention. Naruto's pained expression bothered Kakashi. It was the same one he scorched on when they had lost Sauske. "She was all alone right?..." he continued. "I believe so" Kakashi was trying to end the conversation quickly so Sakura wouldn't see them so tense.

"What's it to you, Dickless?" Sai probed. Naruto was about to go off on this overconfident jerk, but the unanswered question he's been holding in, set his mind back in focus. "Well…I was alone too…but didn't Sakura have any family that loved her enough to take her in?" he finally spouted. Sai and Kakashi were both stunned by his question. 'He can never know the truth…'Kakashi mentally thought. "Naruto, Sakura is fine, she has me and Lady Tsunade." With that vague answer the topic ended in a screeching halt. Naruto gaped at his response. 'He can't be serious! He knows what I'm trying to ask!' Naruto mentally fumed 'I WILL find out what happened 11 years ago…' he vowed. "Hey Dickless, snap out of it we're here." Sai plainly said.

"Ten bucks says she looks hot" Naruto bragged proudly. Both Kakashi and Sai rolled their eyes. "I'm in. I don't think Ugly could even pull off 'cute'…"Sai scoffed. "Now, now…"Kakashi sweat dropped the last thing Sakura needed to be pressured into was becoming Sai's version of "hot".

In the house, Sakura had to snap herself out of her daze. She was about to comment on herself when she heard rasping at her front door. She looked at herself one last time hoping this would catch their targets attention. 'Ok, show time' she winced.

A 'clink' sound alerted Team 7 this was the moment. The moment to see if Sakura had really pulled of transforming herself from a tough, skilled ninja into a gorgeous school girl. When the door opened completely, All three males gasped and gawked!

Sakura suddenly felt self conscious "H-how does it look?" Sakura whispered, adding to the cuteness of it all. Naruto smirked. "Hey Sai, I'm charging you fifty!" he boomed. Sai was about to snip back, but Sakura kept him distracted. He took in every detail ever so slowly and lustfully. He started at her bare, cream-colored legs. They looked so smooth and soft, he had to resist the urge from pouncing on her and behave...inappropriately. Then that uniform! Jeez could that skirt get any shorter? The way the creased ends flowed loosely as the band at the top of the skirt showed off her tiny waist. The buttoned up white V-neck shirt clung to her every curve making her, now larger, breasts more pronounced. All in all that uniform was a tease. The cropped V-neck line didn't help either. Just showing off a bit of cleavage was enough to drive even the most composed men insane. But besides that "genius" outfit, as Sai called it, what had held his attention was her gorgeous porcelain face. Her waist-length silky pink hair swayed like a loose ribbon as she walked towards them. Her cute green eyes glistened as she looked up at him shyly, under thick flawless lashes that batted as she tried to avert his eyes away from his perverted stare. Sai's eyes settled on her pink plump lips, he felt a jolt of excitement as he imagined his own lips latched onto those soft petal-soft ones.

"Sai" Kakashi's firm voice, father-like and stern, caught his attention "Enough fantasizing. You're making her feel scared" he warned. 'Must be his "parent-like" intuition' Sai scoffed. "Sorry about that Ugly" he spat. Sakura looked hurt by the name. It bugged her when he used in general, but probably because in this mission she was trying NOT to be ugly. "Sai! You jackass!" Naruto hissed. "Sakura looks beautiful…no, she looks sexy!" he defended. Sakura blushed as his words sank in. 'Sexy? Um…I don't know about that, but Naruto is right on one thing, I'm not ugly.' She thought. Sakura rolled her eyes "It's ok Naruto. Let's just get this over with ok. I'm dying to get out of this embarrassing outfit" she whined. 'But don't you feel HOT in it?' her inner self cried. "Go away…" she hissed at herself. 'Oh c'mon you do look pretty cute. Hell, Naruto called you SEXY! And did you see the way Sai practically undressed you with his eyes!? Priceless!' her inner self beamed. Conflicting with herself did manage to calm Sakura's nerves a bit, but when they reached the castle sized high school, she couldn't help but feel scared all over again.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai ducked behind some bushes so their group wouldn't seem suspicious to anybody. "Hey Sakura" Naruto whispered, a light blush reached his cheeks "Good luck and becareful. And if anything happens just give me a shout and I'll be right over, believe it!" Naruto's huge grin and reassurance made her heart race. Not because she liked him like that, but because every time he got like this, it would give her the confidence and drive to do her very best. Naruto was both weird and gifted like that. "Thank you, Naruto" she gave him a tight hug, much to his liking. "If the situation gets sticky, abort. Understand?" Kakashi forewarned. Sakura nodded and gave her teacher a tight hug as well.

Both Kakashi and Naruto shot a glare at Sai who had yet to bid her good luck. Sai rolled his eyes and turned to Sakura. "Don't get raped Ugly. If they even get that desperate enough." He faked a smile. To his surprise Sakura smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Sai thought he was going to melt. 'Awww does she really have to go?' he thought 'Especially when I'm going to miss her hugs, her very snug…wait! Too…tight, oh my god she's going to snap me in two!' Sai mentally cried. He began to struggle in Sakura deadly grip as Kakashi and Naruto burst into a screeching laughter. 'He deserved it' Naruto complied. Before Sakura really DID snap him in two, she gave mercy and let is limp body fall to the ground. "Thanks, Sai" she hissed. She turned to the other two, said her farewells, and reluctantly headed to the school entrance.

"Hey, Sai" Naruto poked. "I'm charging you ninety instead. 'Cause even though you made her pissed, she still looked good" he cried in laughter. Sai grumbled.

* * *

Sakura stared up at the enormous building and gulped. How was she supposed to get attention of her target when there would be so many students? 'Like finding a needle in a hay stack' her inner self whined. 'Just stand out a bit and I'm sure we'll get his attention' inner Sakura assured herself. Taking what felt like her last breath, she forced one foot in front of the other and headed into the school doors. As she made her way down the large halls towards the main office she couldn't help but think, 'I hope high school is nothing like on those TV shows where everybody has a "clique"…' she rolled her eyes. 'Or where looks and who you hang out with are everything that matters about your "reputation" and of course, that the social system circulates on drama!" she hoped not, after all she had a habit of making the same types of friends… "Naruto's and Sauske's" she called them. Naruto's like Kiba, Lee, Ino, and so on. Sauske's like Neji, Shino, Sai, Shikamaru and so on.

Sakura sighed inwardly and managed to find the main office without being seen. 'Maybe everybody's in class' she figured. As she pushed the office door open, she couldn't help but feel spotlighted when she stepped in. 'Maybe 'cause you look so cute!' her inner self reasoned. Sakura couldn't help feel that her inner self was right for once. The male teachers and advisers who were hanging out in the office might as well would have been eye-humping her. Sakura shuddered at the mere thought. As she ignored the uncomfortable stares she couldn't help but feel the glares and other stares of envy she was receiving from all the females in the office. 'Joy…' she winced.

After she collected her school map and schedule, she grimly made her way to room 343. When she paused to collect herself. 'Don't fret, girl!' her inner self encouraged. 'If you can survive the types of jobs you do, this should be no problem right. It's just another mission, what could go wrong?' She assured. Sakura took in a deep breath and gently rasped on the class door. "Come in" she heard a deep voice grumble. She walked in to the loud classroom.

Sakura couldn't help but notice the students were quite unruly and paid no mind to the teacher that was trying to get their attention so he may start class. It was actually quite annoying how rude and obnoxious they really were. The teacher took a minute to break his stare from Sakura before he turned to the rest of the class. "Students, it seems we have a new student. Please make her feel welcome." He introduced. Sakura cringed as the students all stopped to give her their attention. So many pairs of eyes were making her feel nervous. "Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura. It's very nice to meet you all." Her voice sounded silky and cheerful, but underneath Sakura was freaking out. She took note that most if not all the guys in her class was sporting an erection, much to her discomfort and disgust. While the females either stared out of envy or shot glares of jealousy. 'Hell yeah! Be jealous bitches!' her inner self cheered.

"Haruno you may sit in that empty seat over by Taoreru." He said while pointing to an empty desk. "Taoreru, please raise your hand so Miss Haruno may know whom I'm talking about." His sentence was too formal, he was too preoccupied watching the sway of Sakura's hips as she made her way to her desk, to notice. Sakura was also too preoccupied looking over every male to see who could be made a adequate suspect to notice "Taoreru". When Sakura took her seat she noticed an odd girl about 18-19 years old staring her down. 'What's her problem?' she mentally fumed. If she wasn't assigned to be undercover, she would have beaten the idiot senseless for giving her such a dirty look.

"You must be Sakura…" the velvety way her name sounded from the seductive voice made her shiver. She turned to see who the voice belonged to before regretting it…

"I-Itachi…Uchiha?" her voice shook in a whisper. 'I thought I was sitting next to a "Taoreru"…' she thought. Why hadn't see spotted him sooner, or even sensed him?! 'Hello? S-class criminal remember?' her inner self mocked. 'Wanted for massacring his entire family, minus Sauske, and becoming a traitor by joining the Akatsuki' Sakura felt like she had been struck by lightning and run over by a ten wheeler all at once. "W-What are YOU doing here?" she whispered, half afraid he was going to say something like "To kill you…". Without answering, Itachi just looked her over. 'She's such a beautiful young lady, why is she wearing that uniform so provocatively?' he asked himself. He felt his hormones start to kick in as his mind wondered from why she did it to what he could to her. He mentally tossed the idea aside. He was about to explain himself, when the girl in front of Sakura tossed her a note saying it was from one of the boys who sat in front. Itachi rolled his eyes at how lame it was now days to simply pass a note to a lovely girl such as Sakura, wait…what?

As Sakura unfolded the note quietly, she noticed Itachi was curious what the note said as well, he was practically slumping towards her to take a peek. Sakura simply gave him a knowing look as to say "Do you mind?" while he just smirked as to say "Do you really want to take me on?" which she responded to with a cute annoyed look, translating to: "Fine whatever…"

Itachi gave a victorious smirk when she was about to hand him the letter. He was about to take hold of it before she pulled it away and stuck her tongue out at him. She had guts, he gave her that. "You forget who you're dealing with, kunoichi" he warned, but much to his surprise her bravery didn't falter. "I could say the same, Mr. S-class criminal" she purred mockingly. She turned back to read her letter.

"Dear Miss Sakura,

I hope I'm not being too forward, but I was wondering if you would like to join me and a few of my other friends for lunch. We can all get to know each other so you won't feel so lonely and I would be honored if you would let me be your guide to the school. So let's be friends ok?

Write back to let me know your answer,

Your friend,

Usumi Kai"

Sakura beamed a brilliant smile that instantly caught the Uchiha's attention. 'What's with her? And who is the boy that wrote her that?' Itachi instantly caught himself, irked about what caused him to be so curious, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Though it was out of his character to do so, he stealthy leaned his body towards the pink-haired girl. Scanning his eyes over the sheet of paper, he mentally sighed over being so curious about a love letter.

Hearing an odd noise escape the kunoichi spy, he looked through the corner off his eye in time to catch her eyelashes cover her jade eyes. Curious, he used one hand to pry her eye open. "Magenkyou" he whispered evenly.

* * *

Sakura felt weak and dizzy. 'What's going on?' her inner self told her Itachi had something to do with this but she couldn't help but feel she was missing something. 'Girl get up!' her inner self screamed. 'You're captured in Itachi's genjutsu stupid! Get up get up!' her inner self panicked!

"You finally woke up" she heard a deep velvety ring in the tone that made her spine shiver. She looked around urgently. Taking in her sites she felt like she was in a black and red twisted world of…roses? Stunned by her own surroundings, she slowly lifted herself to her feet. "Ughhh…" was the only sound that managed to muffle its way out of her mouth. She felt nauseous. "A rose garden?" she whispered in disbelief "Isn't the Magenkyou supposed to show your worst fears?" she frowned. 'Ok this isn't so bad right?' her inner self contemplated 'It's not like you're allergic to flowers' she half laughed.

"What is the meaning of this?" she heard Itachi hiss. Sakura cocked her head into the deep darkness the voice came from. "What's wrong Uchiha? Don't have control over your sharingan anymore?" she mocked. 'What the heck?! Where did I find the courage to say THAT!?' she mentally screamed. 'Well that is what you wanted to say after all' inner Sakura explained. "You idiot" she cursed. A hidden Itachi furrowed his brows "What was that?" he hissed. Sakura froze when she realized Itachi must have thought she was taking to him! Uh-oh.

An eerie wind picked up in a millisecond sending what seemed like thousands of rose petals spiraling around the surprised Sakura. "W-What's going on?" she winced. She felt her feet immediately paralyze as the petals seemed to cement her to the ground. Sakura's adrenaline jolted in her sense of danger. She tried desperately to rip apart the sweet scented petals away but it was no use. The second they hit her skin and connected to the ground, they were almost impossible to tear away. "Hey calm down Uchiha!" she panicked "I wasn't talking to YOU!" she hissed. Itachi's brow rose in confusion. "So may I ask whom you were speaking to earlier?" Sakura sweat dropped. 'Hey now you leave me out of this!' Inner Sakura fretted. "Well…you see…I…um" the words couldn't form fast enough to come up with an excuse. "T-That doesn't concern YOU!" she bit.

Sakura was about to come up with something better to say when she felt something stick to her hand. She looked down in horror, the petals managed to cement her from the waist down and were still at it! "Can't we talk or something?! I'm on a mission right now so if you don't mind, this has nothing to do with YOU!" her voice was so full of venom and annoyance, Itachi couldn't help but find amusement in the entire situation. "Hn." Was all he said. Sakura's mouth gaped at his lame response. 'WOW unbelievable, he sounds just like…Sauske…' she winced at herself for recalling such a thing at the moment. Her head slowly turned away from where she figured Itachi was hiding, she was afraid his similar appearance to Sauske would be too much for her to handle. Was she over Sauske? Yeah, but his name still feels like a twisting knife in her heart…

Itachi was too observant to dismiss Sakura's sudden change in mood. 'She's a strange one' he thought. In the blink of an eye, Itachi was only a few inches away from Sakura's face. 'Why is she trying not to cry? I haven't touched her' His mind defended. Slowly, it was sinking in. 'I see…she was involved with Sauske.' He couldn't help but feel insulted to be compared to his little brother, but at the same time another feeling was creeping into his mind…remorse? Itachi tried to shove away the thought but its essence still lingered. 'Why should I feel sorry for something my brother did?' He couldn't help but feel angry with himself.

Sakura felt him staring her down but she was in no mood to face him. Keeping her head turned away from him, she took silent deep breaths trying to calm herself down. 'It's not Sauske, It's not Sauske, It's not Sauske, and it's not Sauske…' she was trying to remind herself this was an S-class criminal she was dealing with here, not HIM. HE was gone, HE was never going to fall for her, and HE was NEVER…going to come back… There it was again, the twisting and stabbing in her heart. It ached but at least she was slowly regaining her senses.

"Look at me" Itachi's firm voice brought her back. Hesitant as she was, she slowly turned her head expecting to see the piercing red orbs she came to recognize him by, instead her teary jasmine eyes met with dark charcoal gray ones. Sakura sucked in air at the sudden change of events. 'Is he trying to kill me from the inside out!?' her inner self screamed.

Itachi could see the shock and pain in her large emerald eyes. And yet, inside he felt a stab of disappointment. Even though she knew he wasn't Sauske, just reverting back to his original eye color was enough to send her over the edge. His brows furrowed at her reaction, "I. Am. Not. Him" his voice hissed. He watched the most painful expression in Sakura's face surface. More painful to watch than killing his own family, his innocent targets on missions, more painful than hurting his little brother. Itachi's mind swirled with all the angst and regret he's ever felt. It was almost like a genjutsu only that wasn't it, somehow this girl had managed to make all the pain and ache in his heart, that he locked away years ago, all of a sudden burst out into waves of crashing into him. Her eyes began to water, reminding him what his intentions were. Itachi mentally sighed, he was about to force out an apology when she cut him off. "I-Itachi? I…I'm so sorry…" Itachi's eyes widened in shock, "It was wrong of me to compare you to…um your brother. I'm sorry…" her voice made him feel like an explosion tag had just gone off in his head. Slow warm tears slowly fell from her eyes landing on his hand below them. Itachi was about to speak when he caught the slightest impression Sakura was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness. Come to think of it, she had been looking ill since they arrived into his genjutsu. Could it be a side effect from her being here too long maybe?

'What's wrong with me?' Sakura mentally hissed. 'Is it Itachi's genjutsu?' her inner self asked. 'No, that can't be it. Itachi's jutsu is strong but I've never heard of this happening during his attack.' Sakura was about to demand that Itachi release her at once so she could check over her body. Her medical instincts were telling her it had something to do with the inside of her body, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, her eyes fluttered shut and she was enveloped into utter darkness.

Itachi's rose petals released her at once and spiraled away elegantly. Itachi only had a few moments to act on before he gently caught the unconscious girl into his arms. Her soft, warm skin and light feminine aroma sparked his senses. Itachi shifted the girl into a more comfortable position. 'Something isn't right' he mentally stated. 'This shouldn't be happening' Itachi brushed away a few stray hair strands from her face. 'She has such a natural beauty to her…it's almost impossible to picture her as a ninja. Let alone a spy for that matter'

Years of being on the run had taught Itachi to learn basic skills of medical jutsu and that was what he intended to do. Slowly drawing out chakera into his left palm, he placed his hand just above her breasts to search through her body for any possible poisons and such, anything to explain why she was in this condition. He could tell she wasn't in pain. There were no marks on her flesh indicating she was attacked. No signs of previous injury on her flawless warm skin. Oh how he wanted to taste her soft skin. No, he had to concentrate.

Itachi had to control his masculine instincts before he ended up assaulting her! Taking a few necessary moments to calm himself, he began to feel the petite pink-colored hair girl stir slightly in his arms seeking better warmth. Itachi's lips slightly curled up at the thought of this girl wanting him to warm her. His grip on her loosened as he pulled her even closer to his body for warmth. So close in fact, that her cinnamon scent was seeping straight into his senses. 'Tempting' He thought.

And then there it was, the "something" he was looking for. Right on the edge of her small pale nose was the faintest view of purplish colored sand. 'Purple usually means poison, but this girl isn't poisoned.' Itachi reasoned. Quickly summoning a clone, Itachi placed some of the purple sand near the nostril of his clone. He waited patiently hoping to get answers as to why this was happening. As if answering his request the clone became tipsy and unbalanced before also becoming fainted. "Syncope Powder" Itachi hissed to himself. Itachi became familiar with this powder when Sasori had used it on a young girl that had become attached to him. Applying light, almost untraceable amounts of Syncope Powder to her nostrils, she quickly slipped into a fainted stage so he could return her to her village without trouble.

Itachi lifted Sakura as he stood up to get circulation back into his legs. The only thing that bothered Itachi was how Sakura managed to stay conscious so long and how she got Syncope Powder on herself to begin with. He began looking over her body for more powder without trying to seem perverted. As his eyes rolled over her figure light grains of sand on her hand caught his attention, no doubt it being the same powder.

As he pieced together events, he was shocked to find the supposed to be fainted girl in his arms beginning to awake. 'Amazing…from what Sasori had mentioned, this chemical is supposed to keep you unconscious for at least a day.' He thought to himself, clearly impressed. Sakura stretched and yawned and her eyes fluttered open wearily. "Good Morning…" she said softly, obviously not keen about anything around her at the moment. Itachi smiled as he pondered over her innocent reaction. "Good morning" he responded with his soothing silky tone. Sakura smiled cutely and snuggled closer as her eyes opened fully making her more alert…and regretful.

"Pervert!" she shouted as she jumped out of Itachi's hold and landed on her rump. "What's going on!? Where am I?!" she fretted. Itachi chuckled "Now, now if I remember correctly YOU were the one that asked me to take you right here in my genjutsu Yes?" Sakura look absolutely mortified! SHE asked HIM to- Oh My God!!! "Whhhhhhhaaaaatttt!?!?!?!?!" she screamed. Itachi couldn't end the joke this quickly not when he got such an entertaining reaction. "Yes, and if you had warned me about your virginity I would have been more gentle" he smirked, he could have sworn Sakura stopped breathing. "But it seemed like you enjoyed it very much" he purred "after all, you DID scream and quiver in pleasure. Moaning my name in pure ecstasy" Itachi couldn't hold in his laughter any longer.

Sakura couldn't speak, hell she couldn't breathe! This is worse than what happened in her favorite movie "The Hangover"! This is BY FAR the worst day of her life! So why is Itachi laughing so hard? Did he find this all that amusing!? She thought angrily. 'Unless….." she began to think.

"YOU LIAR!" she shouted at him. Itachi's laughter got louder, she knew now he'd lied to her. How horrible she nearly had a heart attack because of his stupid joke! Inner Sakura smirked at Sakura. 'What do you want?' she hissed. 'Like I would mind' she said. Sakura was confused, 'Huh?' Inner Sakura grinned 'I certainly wouldn't mind Itachi being my first, that's definitely better than winning the lotto!' she laughed. Sakura flustered 'Get out of here NOW!' she said, clearly embarrassed. Inner Sakura fled.

"Enough fun and games, are you here to catch this murderer too?" Itachi grumbled. Sakura stared at him wide eyed, 'This is supposed to be fun?'. "Yeah, so?" she barked, still annoyed. Itachi smirked and lowered his face closer to hers. Sakura felt that heavy blush coming back. "Let's partner up. The faster this is done, the faster I can return to a sensible job" he grinned. Sakura pouted "Oh yeah because the world absolutely needs YOU Uchiha" she spat. Itachi let the insult slide, this time. "Allow me to rephrase, it's my way or your death..." he hissed. Sakura's heart stopped. Itachi's Sharingan flared and began to spin in that hypnotic trance, Sakura quickly averted her eyes.

"Ok! OK! Point made clear now cut it out!" she growled. Itachi pulled away but left his bloodline activated, "You didn't answer my question." he plainly said. Sakura mumbled a few creative words and stared Itachi down. "Fine, but on one condition." she left her words to fade. Itachi's brow rose. "When we're done, you and I are having a one-on-one match. No rules, no consequences, no second chance" Itachi's lips curled up like the devil readying his fiddle. "And when **I** win?" he said confidently. Sakura smirked. "IF you win, you may do what you please or ask something of me I will have to obey and vice versa. Do we have a deal?" she said as she held out her hand. Itachi's smug look couldn't contain itself and he took Sakura's hand and shook it. "It's going to be fun having a new pet" he teased.

Sakura pursed her lips. She couldn't believe this guy. She just hoped she hadn't made the wrong choice....

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Well what do you think everyone? This is just the first chapie so wanted intros and preplans out of the way. Next chapie will get better. please R & R (read and review).

Thank you \(Ow)o


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